When it hurts to be misled: A Stroop-like effect in a simple addition production task

In four experiments, subjects saw simple addition equations (e.g., 3 + 4 = 9) and produced the sums while ignoring the presented answer. If the presen ted answer was false, subjects took longer to produce the sum, as compared with when the presented answer was true (Experiment 1), when there was no a nswer presented (blanks; Experiment 2), when a letter was presented (Experi ment 3), and when a symbol was presented (Experiment 4). The results sugges t that subjects were unable to ignore the presented answers, which raises p roblems for theories of arithmetic verification (i.e., deciding whether 3 4 = 9 is true or false) that claim that subjects verify equations by first producing the sum and then comparing the produced sum with the presented a nswer. Our results are more compatible with theories that claim that in ver ification and production, an arithmetic knowledge base is used in different ways.